


Desire

by itsmeganonthemoon



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, The Mortal Instruments (Movies)
Genre: Crossover, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-02
Updated: 2016-06-24
Packaged: 2018-05-30 17:55:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 5,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6434479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsmeganonthemoon/pseuds/itsmeganonthemoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Malec in the world of the hunger games. Alec is the tribute. Magnus is the stylist (lots of glitter). I own nothing except the plot and the idea. The story's better than the summary, I promise. Follow me on tumblr and fanfiction with the same name. Comment and feel free to criticize. Thanks for reading, enjoy!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Reaping

"Alexander Lightwood" Effie Trinket said after picking his name from a bowl of hundreds for the district 12 reaping. The first this he did was look over to his sister, Isabelle, who slightly shook her head in pain. She couldn't lose another brother, not after Max.

Max had died in last year's hunger games at just age 12. Every day since, Alec had regretted not volunteering, but Isabelle had forgiven him, it's not your fault, she had said, she always forgave him.

But this was not a co-incidence, Alec thought as he walked toward the meagre stage a few district 12 workers had put up. How could it be? Two brothers had been picked for the reaping two years running.

All he could think was at least it wasn't Jace. Jace was Alec's adopted brother who he'd always had a crush on, since he was ten and he had moved in with Alec's parents. His mother had died when he was 2 in a house fire and his father had died when he was 10. This meant that the lightwoods had taken him under their wing at that age.

Isabelle was the only person that knew Alec's secret.

Alec stepped on stage next to Effie Trinket, and Effie was stood next to a girl called Maia. She was pretty for a girl from 12 and smiled at him, he awkwardly smiled back. She had dark, thick hair and eyes that were slightly too dark to be brown, but too brown to be black.

"Alec?" Effie had asked him a question, but he was too deep in his own thoughts to have listened.

"Sorry?" He replied, hoping to hear the question again.

"I said," She said, smiling impatiently at the cameras, "How old are you, Alec?"

"Just turned 18." He said into the microphone Effie held at his mouth.

"Well, good job you got here in your last chance, isn't it?" Alec felt a strong urge to punch her in the face, but managed to fight it.

"I guess." He replied.

"Well, isn't this all brilliant?" Effie tried to lighten up the mood.

For the first time since he was reaped, Alec made eye contact with Jace, who had been staring at him, looking lost, since Alec's name was called out.

"Let's all have a big round of applause for this year's district 12 tributes!" She took Alec's right hand and Maia's left hand, held them up in the air and brought them down again. As if this was all some theatre show and they were the actors in it. The rest of district 12 solemnly applauded, "Bravo!"

She then led the two tributes off stage and showed Alec his "goodbyes" room and led Maia on to her room.

The first people to come in, of course, were Alec's family, but for some reason they wouldn't let Jace in because he was adopted. He'll be coming next, Alec thought.

"Alec, I'm so sorry!" Izzy said, hugging him.

"Mum, dad, I have to… I have to tell you something." Alec said, his vision blurred with tears.

"Alec, it's all right." Izzy tried to interrupt him, but when he stared at her, she asked him, "are you sure?" he nodded.

"I'm gay." He said, at which his parents left the room, angrily pulling Izzy away.

"No, dad, let go of me!" Izzy yelled.

Alec could hear his parents saying things like, "what is wrong with you?", "was it our fault, our parenting?", "Izzy, you're straight aren't you?" and, "it's just not natural!" but all he could do was cry.


	2. Jace, Clary and the Train

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These chapters are gonna appear to have all been posted at once, but that's because I originally posted them on fanfiction, which is where I generally post first. Enjoy and leave a comment about what you thought!

Alec was silently crying when Jace walked in.

"Alec…I…I never knew…" Jace said quietly, "why didn't you tell me?"

"I guess you hate me now, too." Alec sniffled.

"No, Alec, I could never hate you!" Jace brought Alec into a hug, which, of course, only made it worse.

"You don't understand." Alec replied. "I," he took a deep breath.

"I think enough secrets have been told today." Jace was then told to leave by the peacekeepers. "Just, try to win, okay? If not for yourself, then for me and Izzy."

Alec nods.

\--------------

"Well, your secret's out, Lightwood, your parents, they… they told the press," Alec hadn't expected another visitor, but a girl form school, Clary, was the next to walk in. "your sister was kicking and screaming, it…err… looks like she'll love you no matter what."

"Yeah, look, if there's nothing you wanted then I suggest you leave."

"I was always going to ask you, it would've been too late, listen…um…I don't quite know how to put it."

"I won't judge."

"Okay," she took a deep breath, "is Jace single?"

"Seriously? You ask me that?"

"Hey, no judging!"

"Yes, he is single." Alec stared at the tiled floor, looking sad to Clary.

"Listen, I'm sorry about your parents, and your brother, it was your brother last year wasn't it?" Clary asked.

"Yes, and I'm sort of over that now, but I never knew my parents could be such, well, dicks about the whole thing."

"Okay, bye, and sorry, again." She said as the peacekeepers signalled for her to leave, "Good luck!" Were the last words Alec heard from her.

The next few minutes were a blur of tears and pushing as Alec was lead to the train he would be spending the next few hours on.

"Hi again," said Maia, when they were both sat down on the sofa in the train, "I'm Maia." She held out her hand for Alec to shake, but he declined.

"I'm not really in the mood for introductions right now." He said, "My parents just basically disowned me."

"Well, that calls for a hug, not a hand shake," she exclaimed and hugged him.

"Thank you." He said, not bothering to argue with her any longer, and walked away.

The train was beautiful, all the seats were cushioned and red velvet covered them. There were green glass decorations, which may sound mismatched, but no, both colours went perfectly. The Capitol is so rich Alec thought on the way to his bedroom.

He had a white double bed with a green bedspread and headboard. The en-suite bathroom was also beautiful; Alec couldn't believe it could all fit on a train.

He got changed out of his reaping clothes (a tattered shirt and a pair of used-to-be-black-but-are-now-brown trousers) and into some amazing clothes the capitol provided him with. Even though it was just a tux, it felt so comfy he wore it to dinner.

It was there that he met his mentor for the first time, Haymitch. Who, Alec knew as soon as he saw him, was a drunk.

"You know, this year's gonna *hic* be great, I hope everyone wins and the capitol *hic* can go to hell!" Haymitch said before promptly passing out and being carried to his room by the avoxs.

"Well, he sure is helpful!" Alec exclaimed as he took a seat next to Maia at the table.

"He's not been this bad since his first year of mentoring!" Effie said.

Alec went back to his room to go to sleep early that night; he knew he'd need his sleep for training and the opening ceremony as well as wanting to be alone so he could cry. He cried over being disowned by his parents and his brother's death and knowing that he'd die so young and how badly Isabelle and Jace would cope. He cried over life because he didn't care about it anymore and it seemed that life didn't want him either.


	3. Magnus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's right, we can finally start with the shipping! Alec, meet Magnus, Magnus meet Alec. I'm just gonna...leave this here...

"Hi, I'm Magnus Bane and I'll be your stylist!"

Alec was stark naked when he first met Magnus, as all tributes are when the meet their stylist. But unlike other tributes, Alec didn't feel embarrassed, like he needed to cover himself up, he just felt like staring into Magnus' eyes until the world ended and everyone around them was dead. He held out his hand for Magnus to shake and he did so.

"Alec Lightwood." He said, probably smiling too much for his own good.

"I know who you are." he smiled, holding both of Alec's hands, "You look great, Alec, maybe I should just send you out there naked?"

"Err, no thanks, do you mind if I put something on? I'm worried you'll just keep flirting with me." Oh, come on Alec, he thought, it's not like he doesn't know.

"Of course," Magnus handed him a plain white dressing gown.

There was an awkward silence in which Magnus was writing down notes and Alec was just sitting there, watching him write down notes. He didn't mind, he could watch Magnus all day and not get bored. But he was soon dismissed and invited to talk to Magnus at his apartment later.

\-------------

"So, Maia, did you meet Magnus today?" Alec asked over dinner.

"Yes, he kept talking about you, funnily enough" she replied with a smile.

"Oh, really? What did he say?"

"That you were going to his apartment later."

"You mean he didn't invite you?" Alec was confused, but Maia just smiled and went to her room, "I should probably get changed to leave." Alec said, more to himself than to anyone else.


	4. "Working" on costumes

Magnus' apartment was like heaven to Alec, and not just because it belonged to Magnus.

There was a chaise-longue facing a flat screen TV on his left, a kitchen with an island and marble furnishings to his right. In front of him were two sets of stairs leading to a balcony with three doors, no doubt one being Magnus' bedroom, another being the bathroom, and the last being either his study or a spare room.

"Hello?" Alec said, having come at eight o'clock on the dot, as agreed.

"Hi I'm just in the study... the room on the right upstairs." Came a muffled voice. So it was a study, Alec thought.

The district 12 tribute walked up the right hand stairs and knocked on the door before walking in. He was surprised to see Magnus, still fully made over, in a red silk robe with navy blue accents. He stared at Magnus, mouth slightly agape, while Magnus stared at him, smiling.

Magnus as the first to speak, "So are you just gonna stare at me or are we gonna do some work?"

"No, I mean yes, let's talk." Alec was still very much in shock.

"So these are the costumes for the chariots..." Magnus was talking, but Alec wasn't really listening, he just stared at him the whole time. "What do you think?"

"I really want to kiss you." The words left his mouth before he could think, "I'm sorry, I... I don't know-"

Alec was cut short by two soft, warm lips against his. They kissed for a good half hour. Just kissed.

Then there was a knock at the door.

"Magnus? It's Alec's curfew, he has to go back now!" The two heard Effie through the door.

"Okay, bye, I'll see you tomorrow." Alec said, hastily running out the door.

"Goodbye, lover."

"Please don't call me that in public."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is gonna be the last one I post today because I've got to go somewhere with no WiFi :(. Anyway, I'll probably be back at it on Monday, in the meantime, all the chapters I was gonna post now are on fanfiction, so if you can't bear to wait that long, just go there.


	5. Opening Ceremony and The Elevator

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, the next chapter.

For the opening ceremony, Alec and Maia both wore long, black coats completely covered in sparkles.

Although the sparkles were uncomfortable, Alec was glad that when Magnus said, "Maybe I should just send you out there naked?" He was joking. But, Hell, were there a lot of sparkles on this coat. He felt like a disco ball.

The uproar from the crowd was fantastic, Alec was amazed. But even through that, he could people yelling insults and swear words at him. He kept smiling as though he hadn't noticed, just to annoy them.

Maia glanced up at him, clearly overwhelmed by the applause by the grin on her face. He smiled back, for her sake rather than for his own.

\----------

Later, in the elevator back to their apartment, Maia and Alec were left on their own.

"I heard them earlier- they called you such horrible things." She said, breaking the awkward silence between them.

"I've learned to block it out." He lied. He did hear them, and it definitely hurt him. "There's nothing else you can really do."

"So...yesterday, when Magnus invited you to his to look over costumes, he..."

"Yes, let's just say it wasn't to talk, or at least, it wasn't just to talk."

"Oh."

"Yes, Oh."

The elevator dinged to a halt and Maia walked out first, surpressing a smile.


	6. Scores

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's so short! (Sorry)

The two weeks of training went in a flash.

Alec discovered he was good at two things: archery and camouflage. So, he chose the bow for the private session with the gamemakers.

The number that came on the screen was an 8, which wasn't that bad, considering the situation. Maia got a 7. Alec felt sorry for her, he doubted she would survive the bloodbath, as much as he had gotten to like her over their time together.

She stood up, crying; clearly she felt the same way. Alec half-stood-up to talk to her about it when he felt an arm on his shoulder. Magnus.

"You did well." They smiled briefly at each other before Alec continued pursuing Maia.


	7. Interviews

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay this one's a bit longer, so enjoy it! Also, I managed to use an interrobang in context, be proud.

Alec was given a black suit with sparkly accents (seriously, did Magnus ever stop with the sparkles‽) for the tribute interview. Maia wore a sparkly dress and had her hair tied to the side to make it look really wavy.

There was a lot of waiting before Maia's name was called out. She talked to Caesar about the amount of sparkles on her dress as well as the outfit she was wearing in the opening ceremony. Then their conversation took a more serious turn and suddenly she was talking about growing up in the Seam, probably to gain the sympathy vote from the Capitol viewers.

Then he heard "Alec Lightwood" being called out on the backstage intercom and smiled at Maia as they passed each other in the stage left door.

The first thing he noticed when he went on stage is Magnus' face in the front row of the audience. The second thing he noticed was the fact that Caesar would ask him about his parents and that he would lose sponsors if he told the truth.

He sat down on the (very comfy) chair next to Caesar and said, "Hi."

"Hello, Alec." Caesar replied and shook his hand. Alec could see in his eyes how much he wanted to wipe his hand on his trousers, but he didn't and Alec silently thanked him for that. "So, what have you liked about the Capitol so far?"

He was nervous, Alec could feel his nervousness radiating from him like a glow-stick in a dark room."All of it, it's great, but i have to say, I love the sparkles." Alec joked, but got no laughter from the audience. Tough crowd. He thought.

The conversation continued just as awkwardly - Caesar briefly talked about Alec's parents only to be vocally blocked by Alec - until Caesar mercifully said, "It looks like we've run out of time- Alexander Lightwood, everyone!"

Alec waved at the audience and left the stage, only to be hugged by Maia. "Your parents weren't fair to you, Alec, don't take what they said to heart, it's not how everyone feels." she said, "Still, I can't believe I just talked about sparkles when you have some real issues to talk about."

"Hey, don't worry about it, I talked about sparkles too." He said, trying to unlatch himself from her.

"Yeah, I guess... Look, I can cover for you if you want to go to Magnus' tonight." She said in a slightly hushed voice, "It's the last night before the games." She winked before rushing through the closing elevator doors.

Alec rushed off to find Magnus.


	8. Last Night on Earth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eeek, so much malec in this chapter!

Alec knocked on Magnus' door and waited for a response.

"Who is it?" He heard from behind the door.

"It's me, Alec"

"Okay, I'll be right there!" He had to wait a little while before Magnus finally opened the door. He had his hair down for once, it looked strange without the glitter. He was wearing something fairly plain for a resident of the Capitol, but still extravagant for someone from any of the districts- shiny skinny jeans and a t-shirt covered in sparkles.

"Hi." Alec said.

"You did great up there." Magnus said, referring to the interview.

"Thanks."

"Come in, we need to talk." Alec knew from experience what "talk" meant, so he came in and sat down on the chaise-long, not noticing when Magnus locked the door so no one could walk in.

No sooner had the stylist sat down when Alec said, "Magnus, I won't survive the games, they'll try to kill me off."

"I won't let them." He replied immediately.

"You'll lose your job, heck, they might kill you too!"

"Who cares?" He said, "I want you to survive!"

"Don't waste your life on me."

"It wouldn't be a waste."

"Yes." Alec insisted, "It would."

"Fine." Magnus relented, "But I have to ask one question." He planted a kiss on Alec's cheek.

"What?" Alec softly replied.

"Do you have any last requests?" Magnus said as he stroked a strand of Alec's hair behind his ear.

He took a while to answer, but when he eventually did, he said, "Run away with me!"

"What?"

"We could totally do it." Alec became excited at his idea and sat up to look at Magnus' face, "I heard rumours that people are living in District 13."

"Let's do it." The clothes designer smiled before pressing his lips against his boyfriend's.


	9. Run

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, getting onto the updated storyline. Again, you can see all the chapters I've already posted on fanfiction.net, I have the same username and I called the story the same thing.

Alec woke up, naked, in Magnus' bed. Why didn't Effie come and get me? He thought. The district 12 boy looked at the digital clock on his boyfriend's bedside table. It read 5:26am. He could either go and die today in front of the country that hates him, or go and discover a new future with the man he loves in a place that may or may not accept him.

"Magnus." He gently shook the fashion designer's shoulder to wake him up.

The reply sounded sort of like, "mmmmnumnmnmnuhhhwhat time is it?"

"About half past five." The perfectly awake Alec said, "I wanted to see if you think I should go or not. We could still do what we said we would last night."

"Which one?" Magnus smirked before being gently hit in the shoulder by his boyfriend.

"I'm serious." Alec said, "We'd be breaking the law."

"Better than dying." Magnus said, "Let's do it. I'll start packing."

After filling some backpacks and getting Alec dressed in some clothes that would hide his face, they set off.

It wasn't that hard to get out of the Capitol, so soon enough, they were in the forest.


	10. An Encounter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, last one... I apologise in advance for the long wait for the next chapter, I'm really bad at updating...

They travelled for a few hours before they had to rest and eat. It wasn't long before they realised that they hadn't brought nearly enough food, so Alec's District 12 knowledge of edible plants came in handy. Soon enough, they were living mostly off of hawthorn leaves, elder berries and other things like that. A normal day for them was: wake up with the sun, gather their stuff, walk until midday, eat lunch, walk for a few more hours, set up camp (with food up a tree so bears wouldn't get to them), make a fire, then make out for a little while before going to sleep.

It was probably two weeks or so after they set off that they finally found an area of rocks that looked similar to the one's they recognised from the news.

"We're here!" Alec shouted before deeply kissing his boyfriend.

They dropped their bags and sat down where they were. Alec crawled on top of Magnus, straddling his legs over his. As the kiss deepened, Magnus moved his hands under Alec's shirt, feeling his bare back, feeling his muscles, his soft, goose-bumped skin, his -

"Who are you‽" They heard from behind them.

Alec turned around to find a girl with straggly light brown hair, wearing grey clothes and holding a gun, though, by the looks of her face, she wasn't looking to fire it. After Alec crawled off of Magnus' lap and pulled his shirt down to its normal level, they both held up their hands in surrender.

"Don't shoot us." Magnus said without thinking.

"Look at her face; she doesn't want to shoot us." Alec quietly said to his boyfriend.

"Doesn't mean I won't." The girl grabbed their attention back and raised her gun a little, "Wait, I know you two- You're the district 12 tribute everyone thinks is gay, and you're his stylist. You both disappeared a few weeks ago."

She lowered her gun and the couple lowered their hands and stood up, picking up their bags as they went. The three of them warily walked towards each other, and, when they were near enough, she patted their pockets to check for weapons. She took the knife out of Alec's pocket, then snatched their bags.

While she was looking through them, she said, "Did you know they had to postpone the games? They spent a while looking for you, then they gave up and had to throw another reaping. Now some other kid is going into the games with only half a week of training and probably only a few sponsors." The two exchanged a remorseful glance before being handed back their post-rummaged backpacks. "I'm Theresa, but you can call me Tessa."

She signalled for them to walk in front of her and, since she had a gun, they did.


	11. The Cell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's back, back again!

Theresa led the pair through an opening in the rocks and down some rattling metal steps. They went through a series of doors using a key card that made its slots green when she pulled it out.  
Eventually, the trio got to a room with reinforced glass doors. Tessa told them to wait there while she got someone in charge to work out what to do with them.  
After a few minutes, Alec said, “This is a cell, isn’t it?”  
“Think so...” Magnus said.  
“Wow, we are stupid, aren’t we?” They both laughed.  
Then they heard the rusted door creak open, and in walked a woman with dark grey hair with a streak of white in it.  
“Hello, I’m President Coin.” The woman said, “And I’m the one in charge around here.”  
“Hi I’m Alec and th-“  
“I know who you are. You’re the runaways, right?” Alec nodded so she couldn’t interrupt him again. “I’m sorry I just have to ask: if it was that easy to escape, why doesn’t everyone do it?”  
“I don't know, maybe they’re too scared?”  
“Makes sense, but then why did you?” She sounded genuinely interested, so Alec answered as honestly as possible.  
“Well, you know I’m...”  
“Gay? Yes. Go on.” Alec couldn’t help but smile a bit. Finally an adult didn’t think he was a monster.  
“I wouldn’t have survived the games. The bloodbath, even. And even if I did, they would kill me off. A forest fire or an avalanche... like that guy a few years ago who ate people-”  
“Do you eat people, Alec?” Coin asked, though Alec doubted she actually thought he did.  
“No, but-” Man, her interruptions were getting annoying.  
“Well then I think you can stay.” She said, “Theresa, give them a room near the canteen, I think that will suit them best, don’t you?”  
Tessa nodded and unlocked the glass door. Alec and Magnus exchanged somewhat bewildered looks, then picked up their bags and trailed out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, leave a review.  
> More to come now I've finished school!


	12. Playing house

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 6 months later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't get used to me posting this much. It can't last.

Alec returned to his and his boyfriend’s room after a long day working at the hospital. It had grey walls with some of Magnus’ designs on it. Magnus was, of course, an interior designer now, since there wasn’t much spare cloth here to make clothes, the previous Capitol resident referred back to his other passion- designing buildings. Of course, he didn’t like that as much because he couldn’t draw so many naked people, but Alec kind of preferred it that way if he was being honest with himself. 

The room contained a double bed attached to the wall, a table with two chairs around it, and a cold, harsh desk lamp, which Magnus was using to light up his current work. He was designing a new layout for the main hall. After many attempts, he’d gotten all of nowhere and President Coin was becoming impatient.

“Honey, I’m home!” Alec said ironically.

“Hi.” Magnus said quickly, pecking his boyfriend on the cheek. “What do you think? Would Coin let us put a bit of blue in there? This place needs so much more colour. I hate grey. It’s just such an angry colour, you know?” Magnus carried on talking.

Alec sat down, only half listening to Magnus’ words, the other half concentrating on the way his lips move. The way he says an, “O,” sound, or an, “L.” Before he could think not to, he cut Magnus off by smacking their lips together, bashing his lips against his teeth as he did so. It hurt a little, but he didn’t mind. It was Magnus, after all. 

The kiss deepened and before they knew it, they were naked and under the covers of their bed and panting.

“Well, honey, though that was fun, I’m supposed to be working.” Magnus said, putting some grey khaki trousers on - the compulsory outfit in District 13.

“Why do you have to work all the time?” Alec complained.

Magnus scoffed, “Says you.”

“What does that mean?” Alec asked.

“Well just that, because you’re on call, you end up leaving at all hours of the night.” 

“That hasn’t happened in ages, Magnus, I’m only a nurse.”

“I don’t want to argue, Alec.” Magnus said quietly and sat down at the table again.

Well don’t start an argument then, Alec thought, but didn’t say anything because he didn’t want to argue either. He just put on a shirt and some underwear and started reading his book.


	13. An Arrival

“Guess what came through the letter box today.” Magnus said, though he knew Alec would never guess.

“What?” Asked Alec.

“You didn’t even try.” Said Magnus.

“Well I don’t know. Porn?”

“No! Such a dirty mind.” Magnus joked. “This.” He handed Alec a yellow letter- the only splash of colour in the room, other than the couple’s eyes- it read:

“We hear you are a couple without kids and thought you might want to know about the childcare centre.” It went on to talk about a kid named Joshua who was adopted by an infertile couple and then became a doctor because of their help.

“You think we should adopt?” Asked Alec.

“I thought I should ask if you wanted to.”

“I always wanted kids when I was little. Then when I realised I was gay, I... I never considered...” Alec trailed off.

“Is that a yes?” Magnus asked.

“Yes!” Alec said just a little too loud before kissing Magnus’ almost infuriatingly irresistible lips.

\----

“So you want to adopt a child?” Said the woman running the Child Care centre. The couple nodded, glancing at each other, smiling politely. “Was there anything we should take into account before giving you a recommendation? Age? Gender?”

“Uhmm,” Alec said, “We were thinking around 4 or 5?” He looked again at Magnus for confirmation. Magnus nodded.

“Okay...” The woman said, typing it quickly into a computer. “Anything else?”

They told her anything they could think, the conversation continuing very similarly.

“Okay.” The woman finally said, “I think we’ve found you a great match.”

\------

“Paisley? This is Magnus and Alec. They’re thinking about adopting you.” Said the woman, before leading the couple into her bedroom, which was almost completely covered in drawings-princesses, unicorns, fairies, etc- which were almost exclusively pink. Alec gave Magnus a look that said something like, “At least she likes colour like you.” Which Magnus returned with a stifled smile.

Paisley was drawing something with a very short pink colouring pencil. She glanced up, revealing her unusual turquoise eyes. She had dark brown hair, almost- but not quite- black and wore a pink tiara she had made of paper. Her face showed no reaction when she saw that the couple consisted of two guys. Man, Alec loved this place.

“Hi, I’m Alec.” Said Alec, kneeling down next to her.

“I know, she just said.” Said Paisley, which earned a few chuckles from the adults.

“Hey, what’re you drawing there?” Magnus said, hoping to start an actual conversation.

“It’s a mermaid.” The girl said, “She’s called Coral.”

“That’s a lovely name.” Said Magnus, “I draw too. I’m actually a designer.”

“Really? That sounds so exciting!” She said.

“You lot seem to be getting along swimmingly, so I’ll leave you be for a bit.” Said the woman.

No sooner had the woman left, her footsteps inaudible down the hall, had the child ripped off her tiara, and lifted her rug to find a hatch in the floor, where a book of ghost stories was hidden.”Ugh. I hate the colour pink!” She said. A bewildered Magnus and Alec exchanged confused looks.

“Then why did you tell that woman you do?” Said Alec.

“Because no one wants to meet a kid who’s creepy.” Paisley said as if she’d said it a hundred times before, because she practically had. She was flicking through the book to find a certain page.

“You’re not creepy just because you like creepy things.” Magnus said, glancing at Alec for support. Alec shrugged, unsure of what to say.

“Listen, kid, you don’t have to lie to get what you want.” Alec said, trying to get eye contact. He considered Magnus, absentmindedly smiling as he did so, “In fact, it’s better if you tell the truth.”

“I like you two.” She said after a brief pause. “Can you read me this story?” She held her book out to Magnus, and he accepted, looking triumphantly at Alec like, "She chose me." The three sat against the side of Paisley’s bed, with Magnus in the middle, reading a story about a ghost or a vampire or something. None of them cared, because they were reading it together. They could get used to this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N Damn, if you could see the conversation I just had with my friend about Paisley's name.... You'd probably hate me for spoiling the story for you, to be honest. Leave a comment to tell me what you think.


End file.
